In addition to these general rules for the future administration, there were several maxims which Struensee often repeated to the king, and tried to imprint on his weak memory. The principal of them were to the following effect:—
It was injurious to foster the flocking to court of persons who hoped to make their fortune there, for it only tended to ruin such persons, to impoverish the country, and entail losses on the king's Treasury. It would be better for the nobility to live on their estates if they did not desire employment, and those who wished for an official appointment must render themselves fit for it in subordinate posts.[131] Exceptions to this rule should only occur for valid reasons, and not through favour or a lengthened residence at court. In giving appointments, the king must trust to the recommendations of the colleges, and pay no regard to the requests of courtiers or patronage. The king must issue no decree by which the privileges of citizens were attacked. His Majesty also, at least during the first years, must grant no distinctions or titles that did not agree with the office held by the recipient.[132] Pensions must only be granted in extraordinary cases, and after long service, and no alms were to be bestowed on courtiers, but all the more copiously on those who really needed them. The king must strive to make Copenhagen great and prosperous, not by luxury and numerous consumers, but by industry and foreign commerce, so that capitalists might be attracted to the capital. Improved morals could not be produced by police laws, which were an encroachment as well on human liberty; for immoral conduct, if it have no immediate injurious influence on the quiet and safety of society, must be left to conscience to condemn. The secret vices which force and oppression entailed were frequently much greater offences against morality, and constraint only generated hypocrisy.
It cannot be denied that such a system of government, in many respects, agreed with the principal wants of society and the country at that day. Still it must be carried out without precipitation, with caution, and a thorough knowledge of the country and the national character. Two points in this advice to the king deserve comment, however. In his opinion about the nobility, Struensee showed himself to be a man who had but slight confidence in himself, and was more competent to form great schemes than carry them out. A statesman displays his weakness when he shows a fear of that class of his fellow-citizens who are able to weigh his actions properly. In the hands of a wise regent and a clever minister the service of the nobility must be the principal support of the state, and not the object of ignoble apprehension. As regards Struensee's views about morality, and its influence in the welfare of the state, he was one of those sciolists who derive their principles neither from reason nor virtue, and who, under the deceptive mask of respect for the rights of society, give admission to the utmost irregularity.
The general overthrow, which had not spared any class of officials, and had hurled the highest of them from office, aroused an indescribable alarm in every mind. The queen dowager quietly watched this terrible storm from a distance: her dissatisfaction at it was as uncertain as it was of little consequence; she merely made a point of meeting those persons, on whom the ruinous blows had fallen, with the greatest expressions of sympathy and friendship on every occasion. In the meanwhile, the young queen and her adviser enjoyed the advantages they had acquired; the confidential union and peace in which they lived was heightened by the most agreeable amusements, and their happy days were passed in undisturbed delight. Still they did not forget to insure the permanency of this state of things, and followed a very cleverly-devised plan. Struensee, whose far-sighted schemes aimed at getting the whole royal authority into his hands and the queen's, felt that this was impossible so long as the power was not brought into one hand, and that hand must be the king's.
The king was certainly an absolute ruler, but there was a serious obstacle to the proposed scheme in the traditional respect felt for the council of state, which had grown, as it were, into a law of custom. Through Bernstorff's fall the council had certainly received a shock, but the earnest Thott, the experienced Moltke, and the clever Rosenkrantz, were still members of it, and possessed numerous partisans. The privy council aroused a certain degree of reverence, both because it was established on the introduction of absolutism into Denmark in 1660, and because it had always consisted of members of the highest aristocracy. Hence it seemed a serious matter to abolish it all at once, and Struensee, therefore, resolved upon an expedient.
After Bernstorff's dismissal the privy council was not called together for eleven days, and on September 24 a royal rescript to the following effect was sent to its members. As it was the king's wish, the rescript ran, to have the council of state organised in the best manner, he requested that on the first occasion of their usual meeting they should properly consider the matters laid before them, and leave the final decision to his Majesty, for the privy council, in a monarchical state, was intended to offer the king all possible assistance in governing. With respect to this, the king expected the members of the council of state ever to reflect that in a sovereign state like Denmark the narrowest limits must be given to subordinate authority, so that there might be no encroachment on the sovereign power, which was solely represented by the person of the king. The privy councillors must therefore never forget that the king did not grant them any power of decision in any matter that was ventilated, and much less any legislative and executive authority, and that the council of state was merely established in order to place the matters intrusted to it for consultation in a clear light, and lay an opinion before the king. Hence, in judicial matters, no appeal to the privy council would hereafter be permitted, and the Danish and German chanceries would henceforth report directly to the king, as would the departments of foreign affairs and the finances.[133] The privy council would meet once or twice a week, and when important matters had to be discussed the king would preside in person, but in his absence the council would send in a report in writing about its session to the king.
About this period the salt tax was repealed, which had produced great dissatisfaction among the poorer classes, and even caused an outbreak in the island of Bornholm. The abolition of this tax was effected at a time when government had heavy extraordinary expenses to defray on account of the expedition against Algiers. But Struensee, who, in spite of all his faults, always thought of alleviating the necessities of the poor, considered this tax, which only oppressed the lower orders, so unjust, that he proposed its immediate abolition. Ere long, other reforms followed.
Although in most of the other Protestant countries the excessive number of religious holidays had been done away with, they were still kept in Denmark and the crown lands, and were spent in idleness and excesses. In consequence, there appeared, on October 26, a decree, which abolished the previous three days' holiday at Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide, Twelfth day, St. John's and Michaelmas days, All Saints, the Purification, Visitation and Transfiguration of the Virgin Mary, and the annual Te Deums for the repulse of the attack on the capital on February 11,[134] and the great fire of October 23. This regulation caused great annoyance among the large clique of pietists, who considered the Christian religion deeply injured by the abolition of superfluous holidays.
On the same day a second cabinet order appeared, which purposed to prevent the filling up of offices of state by favour and simony, as it was desired that future candidates should have their abilities subjected to a strict examination.
It must not be supposed, however, that it was all work and no play at Hirschholm. The queen became about this time excessively fond of hunting, and the court, magnificent in everything, kept up three establishments; and for each of these there was a very costly uniform. That for the king's stag hunt was a buff coat with light-blue collar and cuffs; the coat was trimmed all round with silver lace, and lined with blue; the blue waistcoat was also laced; the breeches were of leather; and the cocked-hat laced, with a black cockade. The uniform for the hare hunt was a green velvet coat and waistcoat, leathern breeches, brown top-boots, and cocked-hat with green cockade. The falcon or hawk hunt uniform was the most magnificent of all, being crimson velvet, with green cuffs and collar trimmed with gold lace, leathern breeches, gold-laced cocked-hat, and green cockade. Matilda, when she hunted, was attired, I am sorry to say, exactly like a man. Her hair was dressed with less powder, and pinned up closer, but in the usual style, with side curls, toupet, and turned up behind; she wore a dove-colour beaver hat with a deep gold band and tassels, a long scarlet coat faced with gold all round, a buff gold-laced waistcoat, frilled shirt, a man's neckerchief, and buckskin small clothes and spurs. She looked splendidly when mounted and dashing through the woods, but when she dismounted the charm was, to a great degree, dispelled, for she appeared shorter than she really was; the shape of her knees betrayed her sex, and her belt seemed to cut her in two.[135]